Publications of post-war British Fascist movements

Scope and Content

A collection of published material relating to post-war British Fascist movements - the Union Movement, the Action Party and the Action Society - associated with Sir Oswald Mosley. The majority of these publications were published by Sanctuary Press under the editorship of Jeffrey Hamm until his death in 1992

Administrative / Biographical History

The Union Movement was founded in 1948 when Oswald Mosley relaunched his political career as its leader. Mosley resigned from its leadership in 1966. The name of the Union Movement was officially changed to the Action Party at the beginning of 1973.

The Action Society was launched in October 1978 as a way of appealing to people in broad agreement with but not prepared to commit to membership of the Union Movement. It was not a political organisation as such and was launched, in effect to promote the circulation of the publication, 'Action'.

Access Information

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

Other Finding Aids

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Custodial History

Collected for research purposes and donated to the Special Collections Department to complement the other publications of the Union Movement and of the earlier British Union of Fascists in the Oswald Mosley Papers.

Related Material

The Special Collections Department holds a number of related collections:

Oswald Mosley papers: Nicholas Mosley deposit (GB 0150 OMN) which comprises personal and political papers of Oswald Mosley, and of his first wife, Cynthia Mosley (nee Curzon) and personal papers of his mother, Katherine Maud Mosley. This collection is fully catalogued.

Oswald Mosley papers: Diana Mosley deposit (GB 0150 OMD) which comprises personal and political papers of Oswald Mosley and papers and publications of the Union Movement and of the Mosley Secretariat in London. It includes, for example, a full set of 'The European', 1953-59. This collection is fully catalogued.

Papers of Jeffrey Hamm, British Nationalist activist comprising correspondence and administrative files as National Secretary of the Union Movement and of the Oswald Mosley Secretariat c1960-79 (GB 0150 MS124). This collection is uncatalogued.

Associated Materials
See ref: MS784: Newspapers: 'Action', 'The Blackshirt', and 'Fascist Week'.

Corporate Names